Lace Curtain Scarf II

It has been a cold rainy day which is just what we needed.  The area has not had a lot of rain this season so every rain is important.  Still sore from doing hardanger yesterday I decided to do some crocheting.  So with the rain beating against the window I decided to make a Spring/Summer lace scarf.  The lace was a piece of curtain lace purchased at the craft store for $3.00.  I have bought lace curtain fabric and made a scarf before.  So when I saw the delicate netted lace fabric I thought of making another scarf.

 

Lace curtain material.

 

One of the reasons for selecting this material was that it had repeating strips of lace across the material.  This made it easy to cut the scarf piece from the rest of the fabric.  I chose a section of five strips and cut the fabric close to the straight line separating the sections.

 

 

Cut edge of fabric.

 

At first I tried crocheting a scalloped edging on the cut edge of the scarf but it wasn't delicate enough.  So with size 30 thread and a size 10 crochet hook I made a single crocheted edge.

 

 

Crocheting an edging on the fabric.

 

After a couple of tries the edging looked best when each netted loop had a single crochet in it.

 

 

Single crocheted edging.

 

The single crochet edge looked great but I wanted to make it a bit more ornate.  So I went over the single crochets with a crab stitch.

 

 

Crab stitch edging.

 

The crab stitch is easy but strange.  Another name for the crab stitch is a reverse single crochet.  Once you finish the single crocheted edge you work back on the edge without chaining or turning the work.  You simply put the hook in the last single crochet and work another single crochet.

 

 

Single crocheted edge finished.

 

Working the beginning of the crab stitch.

 

Working the beginning of the crab stitch by reversing the hook in the last crochet in this case it is being worked left to right.

 

 

 

Here the crab stitch is in progress when the thread is worked into the single crochet and the thread loop is picked up.

 

 

A yarn over and pull thought the loops completes the reverse single crochet or crab stitch.

 

You will know when you have it right because it will create a little pearl like stitch.

 

 

Completed crab stitch edging.

 

When working the crab stitch the thread will want to wrap itself around the crab stitch to the left.  It is best to keep a tight control on the thread and give the thread an extra tug before starting the next stitch.  It is a tricky stitch but it is worth learning.